Bligh tells artist why - indirectly

On Wednesday 19 March this year, Arts Hub published a letter from artist and curator Jenny Fraser to Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

Once again, we encourage members to continue discussion of this issue on our Visual Arts Forum.

Rod Welford
Queensland Government Minister for Education, Training and the Arts

Ms Jenny Fraser
[email withheld]

Dear Ms Fraser

The Premier, Anna Bligh, has forwarded your letter dated 11 March 2008 regarding the Premier of Queensland's National Art Award in New Media and the Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award. The Minister for Education, Training and the Arts, the Honourable Rod Welford MP, has asked me to reply to you. I apologise for the delay in replying.

I note your concerns about the selection process for the two awards and I assure you that the development of these initiatives involved rigorous discussion, debate and analysis. The administration of open competitions is time and cost intensive. It is necessary to balance the funding allocated to awards with the amount of investment required to deliver them. The selection model that has been chosen was deemed the best model to deliver a quality result while retaining substantial financial prizes to the winning artists.

I believe that it is entirely appropriate that the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) administer these two important initiatives. Two factors were critical in the selection of QAG to deliver these awards – the need for an accountable administration body, and the capacity of that body to deliver a high quality visual arts award.

QAG was clearly the most suitable organisation when considering these criteria and the gallery is entrusted to do so on the basis of its existing performance and benchmarked standards in art museum practice. I am confident that the gallery staff have the requisite skill, knowledge and experience to deliver the two initiatives to a high standard.

The minister appreciates your active interest in the awards. Our government values a diversity of opinion, including criticism of its actions and recognises the important role that dissenting voices play in maintaining a healthy society.

Should you wish to discuss this matter further, you can contact Mr John Stafford, Director, Visual Arts, Craft and Design, Arts Queensland by email at [email withheld] or on telephone [number withheld].

As a separate matter, the Minister would like to congratulate you on the individual and community projects you have undertaken in recent years with Arts Queensland support. These projects not only ensure the individual development of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual and new media artists, they ensure that critical engagement and dialogue with our major state cultural institutions is encouraged.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to the Premiers attention.

Yours Sincerely,

Bonny Barry
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister